Labor guru Ellen Golombek is coming back to Colorado to serve as the state director for America Votes[3].

She will be one of 10 field directors working in 14 battleground states for America Votes[4], a coalition of the largest progressive groups in the country.

“Ellen is one of the best political minds we ever had in Colorado,” said America Votes President Joan Fitz-Gerald[5].

The two women have known each other since 2000, when Golombek, who worked 10 years for the Colorado AFL-CIO[6], helped Democrats take control of the state Senate for first time since 1962. Fitz-Gerald, who was running for the Senate that year, went on to become Senate president.

“Ellen is a very politically sophisticated,” said Fitz-Gerald, who now works in Washington. “She knows how to count votes and how territory is covered.

“I just happened to talk to her at the time she wanted to come home to Colorado. I got lucky and Colorado got lucky,” Fitz-Gerald said.

Golombek was the first woman to lead a labor union in Colorado. She then went to Washington, D.C. to work for the Service Employees International Union[7] and, most recently, as national political and field director for Planned Parenthood.